hokum

ho·kum  (hkm)

n.

1. Something apparently impressive or legitimate but actually untrue or insincere; nonsense.

2. A stock technique for eliciting a desired response from an audience.

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[Perhaps ho(cus-pocus) + (bun)kum.]

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hokum

Noun

Slang, chiefly US & Canad

1. nonsense; bunk

2. obvious sentimental material in a play or film [probably a blend of hocus-pocus + bunkum]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

hokum - a message that seems to convey no meaning meaninglessness, nonsense, nonsensicality, bunk subject matter, content, message, substance - what a communication that is about something is about absurdity, absurdness, ridiculousness - a message whose content is at variance with reason amphigory, nonsense verse - nonsensical writing (usually verse) balderdash, fiddle-faddle, piffle - trivial nonsense buzzword, cant - stock phrases that have become nonsense through endless repetition cobblers - nonsense; "I think that is a load of cobblers" crock - nonsense; foolish talk; "that's a crock" fa la, fal la - meaningless syllables in the refrain of a partsong gibber, gibberish - unintelligible talking unintelligibility, incoherence, incoherency - nonsense that is simply incoherent and unintelligible jabberwocky - nonsensical language (according to Lewis Carroll) mummery, flummery - meaningless ceremonies and flattery empty talk, empty words, hot air, palaver, rhetoric - loud and confused and empty talk; "mere rhetoric" rigamarole, rigmarole - a set of confused and meaningless statements schmegegge, shmegegge - (Yiddish) baloney; hot air; nonsense hooey, poppycock, stuff and nonsense, stuff - senseless talk; "don't give me that stuff" baloney, bilgewater, boloney, bosh, drool, humbug, tommyrot, tosh, twaddle, taradiddle, tarradiddle - pretentious or silly talk or writing